


Wolf Heart

by LunerSoul997



Category: Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Domestic Avengers, Don't judge me..., Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, Gen, Most of the time, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change, Swear Words, Taking the Canon and throwing half of it out the window, Tony Is a Shapeshifter, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark is a kind-of Werewolf, Tony Stark-centric, feel-good vibes, so watch out fren
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2019-06-22 05:24:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 11,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15574725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunerSoul997/pseuds/LunerSoul997
Summary: When Tony was little, his mother always said to hide what he was from the world. She taught him the ropes, made sure he knew how to control his instincts to howl into the night.But she couldn't protect him forever, even less so after her demise.Thankfully, Tony is not a helpless child. Even if he sometimes behaves like one.





	1. Prologue

Tony knew from a very young age what he was aloud to say, and what he wasn't. 

One of those many things on the long and ever-expanding _'Don't Ever Speak Of This'_ list was _'Never speak of what you truly are'_. In fact, that was at the very top.

His mother was weary of his father, she always said to Tony (whenever Mr. Stark Sr. was out) that Howard smelled of hate.

Tony, at the time, hadn't known what she meant.

###

Every other month, his mother would take him to a forest far, far away from home; under the ruse of a mother-son camping trip. Howard never questioned it.

In the woods, his mother taught him everything. She told him how they were Shapeshifter's from a far-away universe called Rrotonn. 

She taught him how to hunt and fish as an animal, how to find the tiny loop holes in the fabric of the universe and create make-shift portals. 

She taught him how to shift into dozens different animals. But one in particular was his and his alone.

It was a large, young-looking wolf with medium brown fur and glowing Golden-Brown eyes. It stood about three feet in height, but his mother said it would grow.

Tony learned countless things from his mother, as well as her ancestors' books, the language of which she taught him to read, write and speak (Named Itah-Lota, or IL for short). 

But there was one thing she taught him every day, whenever they were alone.

"Tony, never _ever_ , let anyone find out what you are"

He always nodded; even though he never -In his wildest dreams- would do such a thing.

He went to school, like the other children. He excelled at almost every subject.

###

Whilst his mother taught him the aspects of the Shifter world, his father taught him how to build things.

Well, not really teach, more like Tony reverse-engineered things his father threw out in order to grasp the basics.

He eventually understood it enough to give it a whirl himself. He built a circuit-board, or, that's what his father called it, at least.

Speaking of Stark Sr., he hid his wildly surprised expression behind a mask of indifference(even though it shone in his eyes), pointed out a few mistakes, and promptly left. 

Tony had never seen his father so proud.

He made a few more things, mostly to fight the boredom.

### 

On a particularly boring date of school, Tony stumbled upon anothor student who introduced himself as 'James Rhodes', whom almost immediately got the nickname 'Rhodey'. 

They became close freinds rather quickly. Surprising as, Tony -as a rule-, tended to try to never become too close to someone. Rhodey, he decided, was an exception. 

###

As the years went on, Tony got more and more restless. One day, when he was fourteen, he had asked his mother why.

She had looked him up and down, frowned, and said "I think it's time I give you something..." 

Later that week, in his bedroom, she had given him a necklace. It had a black leather string, the carved face of a stylized wolf silhouette was engraved in the middle of the pure-silver coin, painted black. At the bottom, In the rune-like, black-painted letters of their odd language, it read Anthony Stark.

Tony had asked her what it was. She smiled an pat his head.

"An allegiance pendant. It will help you" she had said, cryptic.

He had frowned, shrugged, and pulled it on. He gasped as a rush of hot, almost scalding, energy flowered and spread from the pendant's resting point on his sternum. The energy slowly faded to a comfortably warm pulse.

He had looked at his mother, confused.

She threw him a knowing smerk, pulled a small, leather-bound tome out of her pocket and tossed it onto the bed, next to him. She then promptly left.

Tony frowned, looked to the book, and sighed. He grabbed the little thing and began to read.

###

He had gone to MIT -upon his mother's request and encouragement- at a fairly early age, and found he actually rather enjoyed it.

Tony's mother still taught him things, things like where they came from.

She had told him that his Great-Great-Great-Great-Great grand-parents were banished for life after they committed war-crimes, normally the punisment would be death via beheading. The Queen, however, saw mercy (A rare occurrence, apparently) and banished them instead.

She told Tony not to hold a grudge over The Queen, as her mercy had granted their lives. 

It was one of the few things his mother said to him that Tony understood immediately.

###

When his parents died, Obadiah Stane came into the picture. Tony was nineteen. Rhodey had come by a few times to... well, just kind of be there.

Tony was well aware his mother detested Stane (Albeit, secretly Only he was in the know of the full extent of her loathing) for the reason that he smelt of lies.

Tony had long-since figured out his mothers ramblings of someone the family knew 'not smelling right', and learned how to sence it as well.

He could just walk off, hide, run away with his tail in between his legs. But at what cost?

Tony was cold to Obadiah, snappy. The older man chalked it up to him being upset over his parents' death(which he was) and didn't question it.

In the end, Tony decided to tread lightly and treat 'Obie' as though he were his long-lost brother. He slowly appeared to open up to the older man, even though he would never trust him as far as he could throw him.

###

The years flew by in a slow but steady pace. He had inherited his mother's books upon her death, by that point he could recite them all, word for word, in two different languages (one being the original, the other being English). 

He took over his father's company and continued in Howard's footsteps, creating weapons and such things.

He quite enjoyed the engineering bit, always excited on how the pieces clicked together and formed something deadly.

His new chauffeur, a man named Harold Hogan, affectionately nicknamed 'Happy'. Said man love-hates the nickname, or, hates to love it, though he would never admit it.

###

Tony was still in his early twenties (22, to be exact) when he began to drown his sorrows in booze and sex -more so then normal-. the alcohol had next to no effect on him, given his weird biology. As it turned out, though, he was danm _fine_ at acting drunk.

Rhodey still swung by from time to time, Tony also returned the favour. They unfortunately didn't speak as often as they would like, given Rhodey was off at 'Plane School' as Tony called it.

He had programmed a (surprisingly) better-than-functional AI, he called it JARVIS. Well, him, calling Jarvis 'it' would just be plan _rude_.

However, not even his vary clever AI knew what he truely was, on the ridiculously off-chance the system would go rouge. 

Tony had, for safety protocols, given Jarvis the bare minimum of information. Just in case the AI thought his (intentionally and strategically) exhilarated heart-rate was needful of emergency services. Or something of the sort.

He had moved house a matter of weeks ago, once it was finished constitution. It was rather monotone, if you asked him. It felt more like an office building then a home. The ocean helped a bit.

He still wore his pendant every day(under his shirt), and had programmed Jarvis so that the AI spoke Itah-Lota, so he wouldn't go out of practice. 

The AI was curious as to the origins of said language, as he was unable to find any mention on the web. Tony simply told him it was an endangered language and that, as far as he was aware, only he (and the AI) knew of it, never mind speaking it.

Jarvis accepted that and moved on.

###

By the time his twenty-fifth birthday rolled around, his company was _way_ well-known -almost as well as his shenanigans. 

That, sadly, meant boring things. Like... actuly running his company. Obadiah kept things more-or-less afloat.

Eventually, Obie got him a personal assistant. He (vary reluctantly) agreed to meet the woman.

He strode into the office. At the desk sat Obie, as well as a red-head who sat with an air of professionalism that Tony immediately decided he liked- minus the professionalism. 

"Sorry I'm late, didn't want to be here. Only under the threat of bodily harm did I finely relent" he said cheerfully, siting on the chair that was technically his, even though he never used the office. 

The red-head seemed unfazed and simply nodded.

Obadiah was quick to introduce them. _'Hello, Miss Virginia Potts, you are gonna be fun to mess with'_ Tony thought with a smirk.

###

The newly dubbed 'Pepper' Potts was a very much welcome asset. Tony was always aware when she was around, she smells of pink peppercorn (one of the multiple resons for her nickname).

Pepper was a nice distraction from the need to run, hunt, howl. He hardly ever did so. If he had more time, he might have used it to do so.

Or at the very lest, not act so human-like. As it turns out, it's a tad bit odd of a full-grown man to run around, growling at people who annoy or anger him like a rabid animal.

As it is, he would be content just to sleep in his other form.

###

He was thirty. Last night was boring, apart from the fairly-mediocre sex with that reporter chick.

She had commented on his pendant (which he alomost never took off), he brushed it off with a sarcastic comment about it being a 'religious thing'.

He could smell Pepper approaching a full minuet before she entered the work-shop. He was annoyed-relieved when she tuned down the too-loud music that hammered against his hyper-sensitive ear drums.

"Please don't turn down my music" he said, slightly above his normal speaking tone, due to his slight temporary deafness. He still had to work on toning it down to a semi-human level.


	2. Power Struggle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shit happens. Decisions are made. Boom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> K, here is thing. No idea what I was smoking... but.. whatevess

Fear, pain, anger. A high pitch screech. Something cutting him open, shoving something into his chest. Every muscle, every atom, every _nerve_... they were all screaming at him; demanding he fight back, to claw and bite, to rip and tear, to scream and roar and _hurt_ , to relent to the pain and fear and anger. To let The Wolf in him out. To let it howl and hunt. To _fight back_. 

He wanted to. Oh, he wanted to. But as scared as he was of the pain, and what waited after it; he was _terrified_ of what he would do if he let go. He _wanted_ to defend himself. He _could_ defend himself. But fear in what would happen afterwards kept him back. It always had.

So, instead of ignoring the pain and the fear and the anger. Instead of letting nature do what it was designed to do. Instead of _fighting back_... he embraced it, relished in it, welded to it. He took _the pain_ , _the fear_ , _the anger_ and focused on them like they were the last thing keeping him alive.

He took the pain and let it pump trough his heart and into his veins, let it tangle in his blood and fuse to it. He let it go from blinding white agony to a vicious stinging venom. He felt it coil, twist, tangle, and slither in every nerve in his body; like a malevolent serpent. The serpent would hiss, and spit, and strike; but he could control it. 

He took the fear and let it run over him like ice water, let it pool in his gut and freeze over. He let it go from an icy dread to a wary chill. He felt it bite into him with its frozen teeth, it's saliva like liquid nitrogen on his flesh. It whispered paranoia in his ear with its raspy drawl, and turned his skin black. It tries to break him, twist his thoughts to irrationality; but he can smell it's lies.

He took the anger and let it fester. let it blaze, burn, sizzle, and scorch. He let it go from burning rage to deadly calm and back again. He felt it envelop him in its blinding light, he felt his pupils narrow into slits as they adjusted. The light was still blinding, still a blazing inferno; but he could see through it.

He took _the pain_ , and _the fear_ , and _the anger_ , and made them his bitches.

He did scream. Of course he did. He screamed until his throat was raw. He screamed, spat, cursed. He made sounds worlds outside of the human vocal range. He yelped, growled, hissed, screeched. He blurted words in English, Itah-Lota, Italian, French- was that German? He didn't even know he spoke German.

But no matter how much he wanted to, he never fought back. Sure, he thrashed, kicked, struggled... but not once did he bite, or claw, or _tear into whatever **bastard** was cutting into him_. He was actually quite proud of his self-restraint.

###

The Wolf in him was quite the opposite. It paced the cage inside his head, the cage he had kept it their entire life. Whenever he was forced to let it out, it was on a short leash. It had accepted that it was necessary to pad with caution, its mother had explained to it the dangers of being found out. But _now_? They were in danger! 

It had always known it's cage was _wrong_. The Wolf and its Master were meant to be one in the same; not separate entities! It was meant to be an instinctual reaction, not the _fucking personified entity of its Master's refusal to **realise** he was the only personality meant to be running this body_!

The Wolf was not supposed to be his enemy. The Wolf _was_ him, and he _was_ The Wolf. He was a _shapeshifter_ for fuck sake! Not a fucking werewolf! 

The Wolf growled as it felt another wave of pain wash over its cage. It's Master was stubborn as a mule, that much had been obvious for its whole life. He had always pushed The Wolf back, shunned it, locked it up in the deepest depths of his mind and threw away the key.

That was bad enough. But this was the last straw. Like it or not, The Wolf was done waiting for him to _grow up and let it help_. Because this was life or death. This was it, putting it's foot down. No more.

This wasn't going to be a fucking power struggle between The Wolf and The Master anymore. This was going to be _one entity, one personalty_. 

They would be one in the same; like they were always meant to be.

One man, who was more Shifter then Human. One identity, that was more Sarcasm then Seriousness. One Being, that could very well be more powerful then whatever fucking clowns were running the show in the realm over. His name?

Tony Stark.

Tony 'Fucking' Stark, to his friends.

_And it was going to be fucking **glorious.**_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo... not entirely sure where _that_ came from... leave it fore a month and then I'm all like "BOOM, feast on that bitches!!"
> 
> So... ya
> 
> Be honest, should I change the rateing? Not anything higher then M, but I feel like this warrants it.


	3. Confusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony has no idea what the hell is happening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here. Take.

He wasn't dead, he knew that much. he was alive. But something felt off. He couldn't see... ah, his eyes were closed. He was unconscious. Not that then.

He was breathing, but it felt... odd. Not painful, just... strange, like he was working around something. He was getting just as much oxygen as before, maybe more. So not that ether.

His mind... oh. His mind, it felt... slow. Why is that- his spine was tingling, that explained a lot. He had passed out.

He groaned. He needed to get up. His eyes opened, he felt his pupils narrow to slits agenst the to-bright lights. 

There was a pressure in his... he pulled out the tube, gasping at the sensation on his overly-sensitive... everything.

His ears that were ringing, cleared up. The sound of scrapping. His nose, no longer obstructed, picked up the scent of water. 

He blacked out. He came to seconds later, the water was on the floor. Shit.

Is someone talking? Yes, yes they were. He blinked himself back into semi-coherent-ness. 

A man. based on scent and appearance, early fifties to late sixties, no detectable illness, blood type; O+... he was waiting for a response.

"Wha-What?" He asks. God, his voice sounds like he gargled a shit load of gravel.

The man cocks a brow. "You should not waste the water" he gestured to the spill.

He nods... wait, what was _his_ name? Uh... T-something... Terry- no, uhh Toby? No, close... Tony! His name was Tony Stark! God, he must be really out of it.

Hey, is that a car battery? What is- oh, fucking hell. The man was still talking. He mentioned something about a magnet... shrapnel? Probably something along those lines.

Well, shit. He should be freaking the fuck out. So... why wasn't he?

A crash, he jumped. The man grabs him by the arm, next thing he knew, he was standing in front of around two dozen men.

The man was translating. He couldn't hear. Every part of his being was in panic mode.

The Big Scary Terrorist Guy was beginning to get to close. He took another step forward.

Tony growled, low and rumbling, a warning. Terrorist Guy looked confused. He said something in a language Tony didn't understand. He didn't like that.

The Man translated, this still did not get trough.

Tony growled again, backing away slowly. Blood was rushing his ears, he felt light-headed. 

And then there was water. It was the shock his system needed. He allowed the flesh under his jaw to slit open and form gills, and fused his windpipe shut. 

Of course, Tony still acted like he was being drown. After about ten minutes, they finished and let him up for air once more.

He unsealed his wind pipe and fused the gills into oblivion. 

' _Perks of being a Shifter_ ' he thought. 

Talking. Again. Ugh, words are so complicated. Why can't we just... not.

Yeah, he was still out of it. Everything hurt. Everything felt like it was on fire. His senses were too sharp, but he couldn't register what they were telling him...

Wait. His senses were sharp, yes, but _that_ sharp? No. Something is wrong. 

His lungs burn... oh, he was holding his breath. Not a good idea.

In. And out. In. And out. That's how it goes, right? He thought so... 

His ears were ringing, every little minuet sound felt like thunder ripping through his eardrums.

The floor felt like thousands of little needles were piercing his skin.

He could taste the nasty ass water they had dunked him in, could list off what was in it. 

His eyes burned, he could see everything in a hyper-focus, could see the smallest movement as well as all the other movement around him. at the same time.

He could smell the sweat of the others in the room, could tell how long they had been in the sun.

He blinked. No one had moved a muscle. Oh, no, they were moving. They were just moving reallllly slow.

Why was that? He felt electricity jolt up his spine. Oh. They weren't moving slow. His mind was just moving at such a speed that it looked like they were.

That could be very annoying. He would like his mind to move slow enough to see normal movement.

Oh, well that worked. The others had started moving normally again.

He winced as memories welled to the forefront of his mind words and sounds.

Tony Stark. Weapon. Words and words and _more words_

Darkness. He fainted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Umm. I wasn't to sure about this one, but I think it turned out alright...


	4. The Cave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony gets shit done.

He woke with a start, breath hitching at the unfamiliar surroundings. He slowly stood, looking around what looked to be a cave. 

"You are not going to faint again, right?" Tony jumped, spinning around to see an older man sitting calmly. He looked vaguely familiar, but Tony couldn't place him.

Everything came rushing back. Afghanistan, Rhodey, The Humvee, The missile, the pain, the confusion, the Electromagnet, the Terrorists, the demands, the waterboarding, the fear. It all flashed in a series of images. He almost choked. 

He was _scared_. he could only cling onto one memory as he realized just how terrified he was

_The jade-green flecks of energy danced around him, some fused and formed little butterfly's, others just flowed and floated about._

_Tony giggled as one of the little creatures landed on his nose. It was warm and comforting. he gently shooed it away._

_He beamed up at his mother, she smiled warmly as she summoned another butterfly and had it rest on her index finger, it's wings fluttering lazily._

_She looked back to him, adjusting her pastel yellow sundress "Now you try Anthony, remember let the energy flow, don't force it" she said gently._

_Tony nodded, he opened his palm like she had done, albeit less elegantly with his small and clumsy fingers. he focused on the energy that pulsed sluggishly from the centre of his chest._

_He focused on gently nudging it toward his palm, thinking of the shape he wanted it to take._

_Slowly but surely, Amber-gold energy flecks emitted from his palm, forming a small, semi-transparent butterfly._

_It wasn't perfect, the wings were crooked and it had minimal and asymmetrical patterning. He felt disappointed in himself._

_Then he looked at his mother, and he didn't. She was beaming at him, full of pride._

_"Oh Anthony, it's beautiful" she cooed, looking at the small creature in wonder._

_He smiled "Thanks Mum" he said with the slightest lisp._

Tony exhaled shakily. He was still scared, yeah, but just remembering that simple thing from when he was no older then five, when his mother was teaching him how to use his ability's, comforted him.

"Stark?" Tony jumped slightly, the man had come right up next to him. 

Tony narrowed his eyes, looking the guy up and down "What happened?"

888

So, turns out, he had been kidnaped by terrorists because they want him to build them weapons. (Because he was just that great). Which, one: _rude._ And second: what _the_ **fuck** even was his life? 

Well, he had been kidnaped before, duh. At _least_ a dozen times since he was four. So, this, like, wouldn't be an entirely new situation for him _if_ 1: they were looking for money. 2: they weren't terrorists. And 3: this was America. 

In conclusion; he, Tony Stark, has been kidnaped by fucking Terrorists. He is being held prisoner in a _cave_ with some other guy. He was waterboarded -which, by the way, _not_ fun- and threatened with _his own weapons_. And he was in the desert, and in case you didn't know, the desert was hot as fuck. 

So yeah, Tony was _beyond_ put upon. A part of him (the immature(read:largest) part) was almost flattered, all of this for little ol' him. When he got home, he was _so_ giving them a bad revue on Yelp... 

He knew he couldn't live with an electromagnet for the rest of his (possibly brief) existence. So, what's a genius -with the newly discovered ability to think so fast it looked like every thing else was moving trough molasses- to do in such a situation? Glad you asked! He recalls the beautiful pice of technology his Father once built, the ARC Reactor, completely useless as it was (to him at least), but if he could _miniaturize_ it; they would have lift off.

So he got to doing exactly that, he couldn't allow their jailers to know about it though, so he did most of the schematics in his head (Also new, increased brain capacity, it was like looking at an actual physical 4-D schematic) and got on swell. He was also drawing up their way out of here. 

It took time, but soon enough the ARC was made, and installed (thanks to his cave-mate, who was apparently a doctor, Tony had face-palmed for not knowing that sooner) he took some time to admire it, it was beautiful, if a bit obnoxious. It reminded him of himself.

Now that his heart condition was sorted, the real work could begin.

888

They worked rather well together, if you asked Tony. Sure, the Doc was a bit odd, and when he told Tony about that conference, Tony had grinned, that's where he recognised him from _'I should be given an Oscar or something, I'm the damn master of acting drunk"_ he had thought.

One day, wake they were doing... something? He wasn't sure what they were doing. He had asked The Doctor (Yinsen as he had learned some time ago) about his family, just to make conversation. He mostly let what the other man said go over his head (he could remember what Yinsen said if he needed to) but one thing in particular caught his attention.

"... and you, Stark?" He was asking if he had a family. Huh. He let his mind speed up once more, to buy himself more time to think on it.

Technically, he had no living relatives (he was pretty sure about that) and he couldn't think of any one who could be considered family, he had tried, and found none. Oh, sure he had his friend(s?) and Obie(whom he didn't exactly trust) he supposed. 

So, his answer was simple enough. He resumed normality "No" he said simply, going back to whatever they were doing.

Yinsen was unreadable on the outside, but Tony could smell emotions _sooo_ , Tony could tell his simple answer barely effected the other man. He wasn't sure if he should be hurt or relived.

888

They had been working in that damn cave for close to three months now, he was beginning to debate wether or not it would be worth it to just shift and slaughter the entire camp, and escape like that. 

Tony Stark was many things, patient was _not_ one of them.

It payed off in the end though. But, as Yinsen strapped him into their beautiful hell-spawn of a suit, he had the oddest sense of foreboding, something bad was going to come of this. 

_'Oh well'_ , he thought as the guards tried to get in _'If I die, at least I'll go down kicking'_

The fight was kinda a blur, fire, gunshots, shouting, it was so loud he just cut his hearing entirely at some point. Yinsen died, Tony was sad, he could have saved him, but he could tell that Yinsen _wanted_ to die. So he let him.

He couldn't stand. He activated the Rocket-Boots ("The name is non-negotiable, Doc") and flew out of the camp. The actual feeling of being airborne was pretty great if he was being honest. But that's not important.

Tony beamed as he crawled out of his mangled armour _'What **is** important is that I'm free! God it feels good to be in the sunlight. Fuck caves, I'm never going near one for the rest of forever'_ he thought.

 _'Now! Uhh... now what?'_ Tony sighed, looking around. Nothing but desert. Great. He picked a random direction and began walking. He just wanted to go home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, there yah go, And just in tame for Christmas (or holidays I suppose...?) I hope you enjoyed this, because I did... so ya


	5. Homecoming

Tony stumbled, the sand slipping out from under him. Fucking sand. This _sucked_. He was thirsty, tired, probably dying. 

If it wasn't already guaranteed by this point, Tony officially fucking _hated_ the desert. He shan't ever return, as long as he lived and breathed.

"Fuck my lifffffe" he moaned. He kept stumbling in a direction he could only identify as maybe-forward.

Then, he heard a helicopter blades and rumbling engines. "Salvation" he whispered in relief. It was behind him, so he turned around. He signalled the chopper by wildly falling his arms and shouting.

This did not have the desired effect of the flying death machine landing. Not that he was salty about that or something. Oh, Desert jeeps! Fantastic. They stopped. And, saint of all saints, Rhodey ran over to him. Tony fell to his knees, just to be dramatic. He thought he might actually have died out here _that_ would be pretty sucky.

"How was the Funvee?" His asshat of a friend asked, grinning like no tomorrow.

Tony let out a breathless laugh "Fuck off" he said, throwing his arms around Rhodey's midsection.

He was soon enough corralled into the helicopter, not that he was complaining.

They had a medic patch him up and give him an IV. He looked on in mild amusement as they stared at the ARC.

"My eyes are up here, doc" he chirped. The medic looked embarrassed, and went back to treating his cuts. 

The whole process was rather tedious, if you asked him. He would be fully healed in a few hours, anyway. His healing factor was probably the only reason he didn't have a rather nasty infection from the ARC reactor.

When they were done, they walked over to the other side of the helicopter. He frowned, reaching into his pocket to take out a smooth, grey stone. It was what he transfused his pendant into whenever he traveled, just in case.

He hid it behind his back as he undid the transfusion. He pulled his arm back out and examined his pendant. It was scratched slightly, but the resilience charms his mother cast on it still held strong.

He grabbed the cord and swung it over his head. The pendant rested just a couple inches below the ARC; so that worked out rather well.

He began to dress In the clothes provided for him by Rhodey, bless his soul. Tony sighed, this was going to take forever... unless.

Tony focussed, (much in the same way he did when he speed up his thoughts) on slowing his mind to a snail's pace. And yup, much faster. He slowed it back to normal after a minute. They were just about back now. He was pretty proud of himself: even more so because of all the chaos he was about to cause.

Look out World! Tony Stark is Back!

###

Tony was really tempted to skip down the ramp, but held back.

Pepper, dear, sweet Pepper, was waiting for him. And Happy, the beautiful oaf. He had never been so elated to return home.

He speed up his thoughts, he had some stuff to process. God, he had never been so happy to see Pepper since probably ever. He felt the need to hug her. Happy, the most brilliant bodyguard/chauffeur in the world, is definitely getting hugged as well. Tony allowed his thoughts to slow again.

He strolled up to them, teasing Pepper lightly. He made good on his inner monologue and hugged Pepper, then Happy. God, he had missed them. He felt the urge to howl, unaware of another way to express just how much he had missed them. He sighed and composed himself. He had plenty of time to become reacquainted.

When he entered the car, he refused the hospital (it would be a useless waste of time), demanded a press conference and a cheeseburger, and generally made life difficult for all of those around him.

It felt good to be back.

###

Tony was on edge the second Obie looked at him, he didn't know why, but his (rather trustworthy) animal instincts were telling him to watch his back: least a knife be shoved into it. Something was up with that man, and Tony wasn't keen to find out what. 

Tony tensed as Obie swung who's arm around his shoulders, he wanted to snarl and the older man, but didn't. Tony escaped from Obadiah as soon as possible, mentally preparing himself for the inevitable fallout.

And so Tony Stark, being an irresponsible asshole trying to be a responsible asshole, shut down weapons production.

Obie was climbing up the stage (most likely to stop him) Tony simply held his hand out, his superior strength enough to keep the other man back. 

Tony had to shout into the microphone to be heard "Uh, once again this is effective immediately, and nothing is going to change my mind, so suck it up" Tony then pat Obie on the shoulder, took the microphone with him, and left the war zone he had just created.

Pepper looked conflicted, so Tony smiled at her, a real smile, an honest one. Pepper was an amazing woman, and (thankfully for Tony) loyal as hell. So Potts followed him out. Oh, sure, she looked at him as if he had lost his mind, but she followed nonetheless. 

Tony took a sip from his drink (just water) and hopped in the car. Pepper got in to, staring at him.

As they began to roll out, Tony turned to her "Just trust me, Pepper, it's better this way. For everyone" he said.

Pepper nodded and sighed "Without weapons, what exactly do you plan for SI to do?" She asked, looking lost "The government needs those weapons, Tony" she turned to him fully, trying to get her point across.

He smirked "That's just it, Pep. The may government need weapons, but I can do so much more. I'm gonna change the world" he insisted.

She seemed doubtful, but Pepper (Perhaps against better, saner judgement) trusted him. 

"Besides,"- he continued -"I said nothing was going to change my mind, if I took it back now that would be _very_ embarrassing" he said.

Pepper laughed a little weakly, smiling at him "Whatever you say, Mr. Stark"

###

Tony swaggered through the front door, grinning as JARVIS welcomed him home. He fell onto his couch. He sighed, looking around. Everything was just as he had left it, the only change being himself.

He wasn't sure why, but he felt more in-touch with his abilities, more willing to use them. He wasn't sure that was the best idea, though. So of course he was going to do it anyway.

"JARVIS, I'm going to need my books unearthed, and a shitload of coffee. We have work to do" he stood effortlessly, walking towards his workshop. 

"Certainly. Might I ask what kind of work?" JARVIS spoke in a mostly robotic voice, and technically he was nothing more than millions of lines of code, but knowing he was there comforted Tony. Tony had created JARVIS, and he was just as important as his other bots. 

Tony grinned as his bots came to greet him, whistling and chirping excitedly. It was good to be home.

"Oh, you know"- Tony began as he patted DUM-E -" the life changing kind" he said nonchalantly. Then paused "Which will start right after I have a shower, my hair is greasier than Extra Virgin olive oil. And, _ugh_ , why is that the first comparison that came to mind?" he shook his head, going to cleanse himself of the gross hair grease.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wuuut another, so soon? What? don't I have something better to do you ask? Heheh. No.


	6. Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony replaces his reactor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here. Take.

Tony ran a hand trough his damp hair. He was working on a new ARC reactor, one to replace the one he already had. 

By the looks of the scans JARVIS took, his organs had been kinda... shoved to the side. They were still in perfect functioning order, though.

He had skimmed trough his ancestors journals, and given that they had spent the majority of their lives around other Shifters (His progenitor's having actually _lived_ in Maratie) there was some rather interesting information that he had previously ignored.

Apparently, it wasn't uncommon for a Shifter to have some form of prosthetic. Shifter technology was light years ahead of the current tech they had (he was working on changing that) even if most of it was stolen. 

The most common prosthetic was an eye. With the way Shifter biology worked, a Shifter could simply choose for its body not to purge chosen foreign objects. Which made him wonder why it hadn't purged him of the shrapnel.

He was just about finished with the reactor by that point, and now all he needed to do was put it in his chest.

It looked pretty much identical to the last one, but it was far more reliable. Honestly, he quite liked the ARC, it's blue glow reminded him of the small crystals his mother used to enchant. Plus, his flesh and bones had already fused to the metal, and nerves were still working their way into it. He could almost feel it when he traced the rim.

He ran into a bit of a snag though. His hands were to big to fit in the hole. Oh, and that wire, that was bad. This, obviously, was a problem. Tony scratched his jaw, humming thoughtfully.

The way he saw it, he had a few options here. 1: shift his hand smaller, given that his shifting ability didn't stop with animals, it would be rather easy for him. 2: Try and fish the wire out and shove the reactor in with brute force. And since neither of those options sounded particularly fun, he settled on number 3: Call Pepper.

He was pretty sure this was out of her pay grade. He would be sure to give her a raise. 

He tapped a few things out, calling Pepper (who he knew was in the house, he could smell her)

She answered, and he didn't even bother with formalities "How big are your hands?" He asked, scowling at the ARC for its betrayal. 

"What?" She sounded confused. Honestly, Tony would be too, but still. This was important.

Tony hated repeating himself "How big are your hands" but this was Pepper, she was like family to him. ' _Ohhh. I get it now. God, for a genius I can be reallllly slow sometimes_ ' 

Pepper sounded highly confused, which was fair "I-I don't understand why-"

"Get down here I need you" he said, hanging up.

Pepper made it down in record time (she must have been close) Tony's nose scrunched up a bit at the wave of confusion that washed over her. It was one of the more acquired smells.

"Hey. Lets see 'em, Show me your hands" he said, repeating when she didn't immediately react "Let's see 'em" she complied without question, which wasn't surprising, he had asked of her stranger things. "Oh, wow, they are small. Vary petite" he said offhandedly. He had already known that.

"I just, uh, need your help for a sec"  
Tony looked down at the reactor in his hand. He twisted the new ARC around, examining his handiwork.

"My god, Is that the thing keeping you alive?" She asked as she approached. Tony tried not to smile. 

"It was" he said, completely unconcerned, looking back up at her. He must look like he didn't even care about the large hole in his chest. "It is now an antique" 

He focused again on the ARC reactor, admiring it. Very glow-y. "This is what will be keeping me alive for the foreseeable future, im swapping it out for an upgraded unit, I ran into a little speed bump"

Pepper still both looked and smelt confused, he always made a point of trying to clear it, the smell irritated his nose. "Speed bump? What does that mean?" She asked, frowning at him.

He could now smell the beginning of panic on her "Nothing" he made sure his tone was as nonchalant as possible "Just a little snag. There's an exposed wire under this device"- he began to take the ARC out, it made a little click sound as he pulled it free. Ooh, cold -"its contacting the socket wall and causing a bit of a short. It's"- he tugged the reactor out, handing it to Pepper -"fine"

"What do you want me to do?" She stuttered out as she hesitantly took it from him.

He spoke at the same time as her "Put that on the table over there. That is irrelevant" he said, waving her off.

"Oh my god" she muttered.

"I just want you to reach in and gently lift the wire out" he told her, slightly out of breath.

"Is it safe?" She asked, concerned. God, he didn't deserve Pepper. Not that he was complaining.

Tony nodded slightly "Yeah. It should be fine. It's like 'Operation'. You just don't let it touch the socket wall-" he said, circling above rim with his finger. The rest of what he said was drown out by Pepper.

"What's Operation? What do you mean Operation?" 

Tony resisted the urge to roll his eyes "It's just a game never mind. Just gently lift the wire. Okay? Great"

She reached over the hole before pulling her hand back with a hiss "Y-y-you know I don't think that I'm qualified to do this" Ugh, now he had to talk her into it. It's almost like she didn't get that time was of the essence. 

"No, you're fine," he said with as much sincerity as he could with a gaping hole in his chest, it wasn't all that hard, considering he was telling the truth "You're the most capable, qualified, trustworthy person I've ever met. You'll do great" she still didn't seem convinced "Is it to much of a problem to ask? Because I really-"

"Okay, okay" Pepper looked scared, but the fear was drown in the smell of his blood and the discharge from the reactor. Unfortunately the confusion still festered.

"Need your help here" he finished "Okay" he said, The fact that nerves were fussing into the metal was exactly why he needed to do this now. he looked away as she inched her hand toward the hole.

"Oh, my... oh! Oh, there's pus!" The discharge made a rather unattractive squishy sound. And if that wasn't the weirdest feeling. The confusion had mostly cleared up at this point, left in its place was concern with a dash of panic and a pinch of disgust. Not a particularly aromatic cocktail of emotions, but better then nothing.

Tony felt bad about having Pepper do this, as she seemed to be in destress. But this was the lest worst option. for him at least. "It's not pus, it's an inorganic plasmic discharge"- the words were a bit strangled, -"It's from the device, not my body" he grunted slightly. 

"It smells!" She had a whiny tone to her voice, and honestly Tony couldn't blame her. It wasn't the most glamours of tasks. And yeah, she was getting a huge raise for this.

"Yeah, it does" he confirmed. It was a rather lovely mix of alcohol, expired milk, and burning hair. "The copper wire, you got it?"

"Okay, I got it"

"Got it? Now don't let it touch- Ahh, agh- the sides! The sides when your comeing out! That's what I was trying to tell you before-" 

"Sorry, I'm sorry.." she apologized. 

"Okay, make sure when to pull it out you don't pull out the- there's a magnet- _at the end of it!_ " his voice fluctuated at the end, and he cringed a little into himself. Maybe they should've talked this through before starting. "That was it, you just pulled it out" he said, pain making him lightheaded. That beeping wasn't helping.

"Okay, okay. What do I-?" He held this hand up as she hovered the magnet over the socket.

"Don't put it back in! Don't put it back in" He hissed, and choked down a pained growl.

"What's wrong?" She asked, panicked.

"Oh, nothing, I'm just going into cardiac arrest because you _yanked_ it out..."-

"What?! I thought you said this was safe!" She said instantly. 

Tony didn't have time for this"We have to hurry. Take this"- he handed her the reactor "Switch it out really quick"

Pepper stoped "Tony?"

"What?"

"It's going to be okay. It's going to be okay" she said. He knew that. Of course it would be. "I'm going to make this okay" Tony thought this was not the time, but whatever made her feel better, he would go along with.

She grabbed he end and sunk her hand in his chest once more "Okay, your going to attach that to the baseplate. A-and make sure you- Yaahhow!" He blinked. Damn that hurt. Pepper was panting, more out of emotional destress then physical exertion.

"Was that so hard? That was fun right?" He waved her hands away twisting it in himself. "Nice" he said as it clicked into place.

"Are you okay?" She asked breathlessly.

"Yeah, I feel great. Are you okay?" The look she gave him made him giggle, she looked so done. He loved it.

She smiled "Don't ever, ever, _ever_ ask me to do anything like that ever again" she said firmly, holding her hand away from her.

Tony shook his head "I-I don't have anyone but you" she starred at him, he pulled one side of his mouth down and looked away, then looked back at her. "Anyway..."

Tony began removing all the sensors from himself, then hoped off the seat.

He moved away.

"What do you want me to do with... this?" Pepper asked, holding up the old reactor.

"That?" Tony thought for a second "Destroy it. Incinerate it" he tapped his new reactor.

"You don't want to keep it?" She asked, looking down at it.

Of course he wanted to keep it. He wanted to keep a lot of stuff. Didn't mean he would though.

"Pepper, I've been called many things. Nostalgic is not one of them" he said. That wasn't a lie, he wasn't nostalgic per say... Sentimental however...

Pepper looked up at him "will that be all, Mr. Stark?"

"That will be all, Miss Potts"

He said, turning around to interrogate Butterfingers on the clutter.

When he could no longer sense Pepper in the room, he got to work.

888

After he made sure the new reactor was working properly, he went to see Rhodey.

He found the man talking to a group of people, presumably new recruits. 

"Colonel? Why not a pilot without the plane?" He monotones, walking up to his best friend.

Rhodey gestured to him "Look who fell out of the sky: Mr. Tony Stark" he announced.

And Tony, being himself, said "Speaking of manned or unmanned, get him to tell about the time he guessed wrong at spring break" he said to the younglings "Just remember that, spring break, 1987. That lovely lady you woke up with, what was his name?"

"Don't do that" The group laughed while Rhodey tried to get him to shut up.

"Was it Ivan?" Tony turned to look at Rhodey.

"Don't do that, they'll believe it. Don't do that" Rhodey said. Tony fought off a smirk.

Tony turned back to the group "Plesure meeting you" he said.

Rhodey chuckled "Give us a couple minutes, you guys" he dismissed the group.

Rhodey had seemed pleased as Tony talked to him. After he found out what he was talking about wasn't for the military however, he lost interest and brushed him off "What you need is time to get your mind right" he had said. 

Tony got it, it was Rhodey's profession, after all. It still stung. 

888

Tony brought the specs up, removing all the unnecessary junk and heavier aspects.

Tony frowned as JARVIS asked him if he should store it on the SI database.

"Don't know who to trust right now. until further notice why don't we just keep everything on my private server" he said. JARVIS continued to talk and Tony responded on autopilot. 

"Working on a secret project, are we, sir?"

Tony hummed quietly "I don't want this ending up in the wrong hands" he said as he trashed more components "Maybe in mine, it could actually do some good"

Tony frowned, looking down to the ARC. He clicked his tongue, and his gaze shifted to his hands.

He moved over to a chair, siting down. He turned his head to the large stacks of books under his desk. 

Tony was making changes. And if he wanted to change, he needed to step out of the shadow of his heritage. He was a Shifter in a Human's skin. Tony was sick of being afraid, of holding back.

He looked back to his hand. Tony curled his fingers. He scowled, focusing. A small tug on the middle part of his fingers, just under the skin. Tony tested the muscles, and flexed them.

Sharp, black claws pieced through the skin where his fingernails connected. Blood oozed out of the openings.

Tony looked on in fascination. He had known there had been some way to access his claws in human form. 

He held his hand up to his face, examining the claws. They looked like his fingernails, but longer and sharper, around an inch in length. 

Tony brought a finger up to one of the claws, gently brushing against the edge. He hissed as he felt it slice into his flesh like a razor against warm butter. He looked at the finger and watched as a long slash knit itself back together, leaving only blood in its wake.

Tony twisted his clawed hand around look at the other side, and gently relaxed the muscles. The claws slid back into his fingers, the slits they had created slowly forming into small flaps, invisible to the naked eye. 

It wasn't all that big a difference, but it was something.

Tony looked to his other hand, found the muscles and flexed, they split the skin and slid out. He relaxed them. Tony looked around the workshop. He sighed. Time to get to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the first parts are just diolouge from the movie. Duh. 
> 
> But, fun fact: I spent twenty dollars buying a digetal copy of the movie, because I didn't own it. And now, i do. So whoop.


	7. Adjustment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don't even know. Tony does things, and some stuff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fair warning, not my best work. Took wayyyy to long to wright.

Turns out making a giant metal suit that can also fly is not one of the more relaxing pastimes. Or the easiest. 

Once he had a fairly solid design for the rocket boots, he needed to test them. Which... was easier said than done.

He had his bots on standby, to make sure he didn't... well, die.

Tony thought that ten percent power was a good starting point. 

He was wrong.

He was slammed back into the wall, then doused by DUM-E's fire extinguisher. His hair was a mess, and his entire torso would probably ache for the next three days. Needless to say, he took another shower after that.

He had been not-so-discreetly noting the differences of his change. And, as it turns out, he hates being anything other than squeaky clean 24/7. Well, unless he's distracted. 

Once he was clean, he made a few adjustments. The flight stabilizers were a must. He clicked his tongue, glaring at the contraption in front of him. He made a few adjustments and carried on.

JARVIS had obviously been very confused about Tony suddenly sprouting claws, and so Tony needed to update his AI on the things Tony had kept from him.

JARVIS had been unimpressed with him, to say the least. He refused to banter with Tony for two full days. Now however, he couldn't get JARVIS to stop teasing him about it. Last time he kept the AI out of the loop.

But J knowing was a relief. Tony had always felt guilty about lying to him. He was family, after all. JARVIS had relayed the info to the bots, so they were acting a bit odd around him, but they would adjust.

Tony sighed, rubbing his eyes roughly. He slumped in his chair. When was the last time he ate? He rubbed his stomach, trying in vein to relive the pang in his gut.

He frowned. He had ate a full meal four hours ago, and he could usually go multiple days without food.

"Hey, J?" 

"Yes, sir?"

Tony clicked his tongue "What do we have in the kitchen?" He asked as he stood, heading to the desired room. Ugh, sometimes living in such a large house sucked.

"Food, I would imagine"

Tony covered his huff with a playful scoff "Hardy-fuckin-harr, you know what I meant" he said as he entered the room, making a beeline toward the fridge, ripping it open.

_'Let's see... eggs, fruit, sandwich stuff, ground beef- ooh!'_ Tony enthusiastically grabbed the package. He closed the fridge and paused, looking down at the raw meat he had taken from the fridge.

He slowly placed it onto the counter, holding his breath. hesitatingly, he tore the plastic off. Tony sniffed the air curiously. He froze, mouth watering at the smell.

"Uh, J,"- he hissed -"think I found another change" he said dazedly, drunk on the scent of blood. 

He heard JARVIS reply, most likely ribbing him. Tony didn't really hear over the growling of his stomach. He kinda wished he had ordered fresher meat, never mind this was stupidly high-quality. 

Why wasn't he eating again? 

Tony forced himself to move to the drawer holding the silverware. He was still civilized, after all, _-Spoon or fork? Spork -_ the peak of the civilized, in fact.

He grabbed the utensil, walking back over to counter. He sighed. Was he really about to eat raw meat? Yah. He was. 

He shrugged, scooping out some meat and ate it. Tony chewed a bit. It honestly wasn't awful. A bit soft, but good.

Tony hummed, swallowing the meat and grabbing the tray, walking back to his workshop and absentmindedly eating his newfound snack.

"JARVIS, order some fresher meat, we have things to test"

###

Tony cracked his knuckles, heaving a sigh. He placed his arm in the stabiliser sleeve, repulser strapped to his palm. He made a few adjustments. If he could just get- 

_'Oh Pepper's here'_ he thought as he looked over to the door _'I didn't even notice'_ he made a mental note to be more observant.

Pepper entered the workshop, carrying a package, some papers... Oh! Coffee! Tony loved coffee. Pepper was too good for this world.

She walked over "I've been buzzing you, did you hear the intercom?" She asked, setting her burden down.

"yeah everything's- what?" He asked, blinking. 

She just continued, used to his antics "Obadiah's upstairs. What shall I tell him?" She looked over to him.

His thoughts raced. _'Ugh fucking Obie. Why in the hell is he here? Wish I'd fired that bastard. Better to keep him with me though, keep your enemies closer and all that jazz'_ he slowed them back down.

"Great, great. I'll be right up" he said, falsely enthusiastic. God he hated that guy.

He finished his adjustments, bringing the stabiliser up in front of him, rolling his shoulders.

"I thought you said you were done making weapons?" Pepper asked, confused. Tony's lips twitched, fighting off his grin.

"I am. This is a flight stabiliser. It's completely harmless" he said as he powered it on. It charged for half a second before firing a beam and flinging him into some of his tools.

Tony blinked "I didn't expect that" 

###

He jogged up the stairs, walking in on Obie fucking around on his piano. He still wasn't entirely sure why he bought that thing... Oh, right, his mother taught him how to play. Man did his head hurt.

He walked over "How'd it go?" He asked, resisting the urge to bare his fangs at the trespasser on his territory. Stupid animal instincts...

Obie simply looked at him. Tony clicked his tongue, finally noticing the pizza on the table "Oh. Went that bad, huh?" 

"Just 'cause I brought pizza back from New York doesn't mean it went bad" Obie said dismissively.

Tony almost rolled his eyes "Uh-huh, sure doesn't" he said as he sat on the couch. He opened the box. He pulled out a pice, folded it, and took a bite.

"Would've gone better if you were there" Tony almost ought right laughed at that. All these years and Obie was still the funniest person in the room.

"I'm laying low, that's what you told me to do; lay low" did he? Tony must have been blanked out at the time.

"Hey, come on. In public. The press. This was a board of directors meeting" Obie said as he walked over to them.

Tony felt anger flash in him. He closed his eyes briefly, in case they decided to flash as well. He swallowed the pizza.

He looked up to Obie "This wa- this was a board of directors meeting" he asked, tone uncertain and questioning. His mood was anything but. In fact, he was contemplating if the penalty for second-degree murder was worth strangling the life out of this fat cat.

"The board" Obie counted, blissfully ignorant to Tony's violent fantasies "is claiming you have post-traumatic stress disorder. They're filing an injunction" 

Hah! Him, PTSD. What a fucking laugh! Shifters were far more resilient to trauma than humans were, their brains didn't work the same way. It would take a hella'va lot of trauma to give a Shifter PTSD. They had to be tough as nails to survive in the environment they lived in, and instead, they thrive.

Honestly, Tony may be a little shaken by the whole ordeal, but he was more pissed that anyone would have the balls to do that and think they would live to tell the tale.

He came back to himself, fighting off hysterical laughter "A what?" He said, annoyed to all hell. He was in a weird mood tonight. Must've been the head injury- shouldn't he be bleeding more from that?

"They want to lock you out" Obie said, knocking him out of his missing with a hand on his shoulder. 

"Why? 'Cause the stocks dipped 40 points? We knew that was going to happen" yeah, that's right, we. If I go down I'm taking you with me, old man. I don't care if it was all me, I'm petty like that.

"Fifty-six and a half" Pepper chimed in.

Come on Pepper! Whose side are you on? "It doesn't matter. We own the controlling interest in the company" he snapped. He was so done with this conversation. All he wanted was to build his robo-suit but can he? _nooo_ , he has a company to babysit.

"Tony, the board has rights, too" Obadiah said, he sounded like he was talking to a particularly dumb child. 

_'fuck you too, Obie'_ Tony thought viciously.

"They're making the case that you and your new direction. Isn't in the company's best interest!"

"I'm being responsible! That's the new direction for me- for the company" Tony felt a growl begin to rumble in his chest. He choked it down.

Obie gave him this look, between disbelief and amusement. 

"I mean, me on the company's behalf being responsible for the way that-" Pepper sighed and gave him a look "Yah, this is great" he said, picking up the pizza box and standing.

"Oh- come on Tony- Tony!" 

"I'll be in the shop" he said, Obie stopped him, made some stupid comment about his ARC, Tony dismissed him and spun around.

"Alright, then this stays with me" Obie said, taking the box from Tony. Tony clamped down on his snarl before it was vocalized. He hated when people took his food.

Tony rolled his eyes, walking down stairs, not giving ether the opportunity to annoy him more. 

###

Honestly, he didn't know what came over him. He noticed that for the past half hour irritable, cranky; ever since Pepper came into the workshop. And since Tony was new to his instincts being surface level, he did some research.

"Hmm, it could be my injury. According to this physiology guide, when healing, a Shifter is often irritable and suffers from full on 180 mood swings" he said out loud, looking over to U, who was supposed to be working. The bot beeped thoughtfully, scurrying away as Tony gave him the eyebrow of judgement.

"It appears your wound has all but faded, Sir" JARVIS chimed in.

Tony hummed, gently probing the aria the cut was. Or, used to be.

###

Tony powered the thrusters, hovering just a few feet off the ground. 

He fumbled a few times, but steadied himself easily enough. At one point he was hovering over his cars, bad idea. Inched away from them.

Tony landed back where he began, stopping DUM-E before the boy doused him. fighting back a grin, he looked over to his bots "Yeah, I can fly" he said.

Now for the easy part. But first, he needed food.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, not sure how I feel about this one. I figured I might as well just get it over with so I can get to the fun stuff. Eventually.


	8. Flight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony does the fly

Immediately after, Tony suited up. He was pretty happy with how the general silhouette had turned out, but it could defiantly use some work. 

He put on the mask, asking "Jarvis you there?"

"At your service, sir" the AI replied.

"Engage Heads Up Display" 

"Check" blue graphs began to pop up onto the HUD.

"Import all preferences from home interface" he said as he quickly scanned the information in front of him.

"Will do, sir" 

Tony continued to look around, taking in the information presented to him. The beeping was kind of irritating, but other than that everything seemed to be running beautifully.

"Alright, what do you say?" He asked.

"I have indeed been uploaded, sir. We're online and ready" 

Alright, so far so good "Can we start the virtual walk around?" 

"Importing preferences and calibrating virtual environment" he replied.

"Do a check on control surfaces"

"As you wish" the armour shifted around, Tony stood as still as he could "Test complete, preparing to power down and begin diagnostics"

Tony blinked, thinking "Uhhh, yeah, tell you what: do a weather and ATC check, start listening in on ground control" he said, looking around once more.

JARVIS, of course, began to protest immediately "Sir, there are still terabytes of calculations needed before an actual _flight_ is ac-"

" _JARVIS_ " Tony cut in, "Sometimes you gotta to _run_ before you can walk" he said simply.

The AI, probably knowing that Tony wasn't about to give in, stayed silent "Ready? In three... two... one" the repulsers powered up, lifting him up. He gently leaned forward, getting unsteadily shot through the garage entrance.

He scraped the wall a bit before he steadied himself and launched out into the night air. 

He whooped, mostly out of panic, and worked on steadying himself. His heart was in his throat, and adrenaline raced through his system. 

He -totally, undoubtedly, on propose- did a few twirling spins before steadying out again. He panted a bit, trying to keep calm.

"Handles like a dream" he remarked to JARVIS, pulling his arms closer to his sides and calming slightly.

As he passed by the Ferris Wheel, he got a good look a a couple of kids eating some ice cream, one looked directly at him, his ice-cream falling right off the cone. 

' _What a piss poor packing job._ ' he thought absently.

He passed by swiftly, and began to angle himself upwards "Alright, let's see what this thing can do" he remarked "What's SR-71's record?" He asked.

"The altitude record for fix-winged flight is 85000 feet, sir" JARVIS replied.

"Records are made to be broken" he said, speeding up his accent.

Not even thirty seconds later, his AI started up again "Sir, there is a potentially fatal build-up of ice occurring" JARVIS said, concerned.

Tony, not one to be deterred, said "Cmon..." as he climbed higher, he grew more and more breathless "higher..." he grunted.

It didn't take long for something to blow. The HUD flickered out and he stopped climbing. He flailed as he began to fall, yelling.

Well, that's one way to have a heart attack. Tony called out, "The ice stopped JARVIS, deploy flaps!" No reply "JARVIS?" He asked, panicked.

It was clear his AI was not there, and was sure to give him an ear full when he was safe and _not_ plummeting to his death.

"Come on, we gotta break the ice!" He shouted at nobody. After a couple seconds of blindly groping around, the ice shattered and flew off. He wasn't entirely sure _how_ he managed it, but he did. 

After the ice broke, the suit quickly powered back up, repulsers powering back on just before he made contact with the pavement. Several cars blared their horns as he rocketed down the highway.

Tony worked away from the road, heart racing. He yelled, letting out a bout of maddened laughter.

He quickly made his way back to the mansion, hovering just above the roof.

"Kill power" he said casually. He was far less casual when he fell through the roof, destroyed his piano, and crushed one of his cars.

And, rubbing salt in the wound, Dum-E took notice of his entrance, dousing him with his fire extinguisher.

Tony sighed quietly, leaning his head back in defeat. Fair enough, he supposed. 

\---

After struggling out of the suit and snagging an ice-pack, he made his way though the workshop to the coffee Pepper had made him a couple hours ago. 

It wasn't warm anymore, so he would have to microwave it. He picked up the mug, making his way to the kitchenette. Hearing a rustle, he paused, turning back to the package that had rested underneath the coffee. 

He frowned a bit, walking up to it and outing the mug down. The sticky note read 'From Pepper', so it was probably a gift of some sort. 

Curiosity roused, he began to open the package. The glass box was a surprise, as was the thing resting inside it. He tilted it up. His old ARC rested on a pedestal, the words around it reading 'Proof that Tony Stark has a heart'.

He smiled. He doesn't deserve Pepper... honestly, he doesn't -but then, no-one does. His smile morphed into a grin as a thought came to mind. He may not deserve her, but he was beyond lucky that he had her.

Tony left the plaque on the desk, he would find somewhere to put it later.

He sat on his swirly chair, leaning back as he worked trough his post near-death adrenaline high. 

He looked around, then let out a manic giggle. 

"That was the single most terrifying experience of my life. Afghanistan comes in at a close second, though" he said to Butterfingers, who was lurking near him.

The bot beeped inquisitively, scooting closer to him. Tony snorted, "I'll tell you when your older" he said teasingly.

The bot whirred, seeming almost offended, and wheeled off to do his thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyy... Sorry for the wait, I had trouble with this one, only knocked it all out today. In other news, I saw Endgame and oh my god... I cried, but so did everyone else in the theatre.


End file.
